This is not a religious song. But it contains many words such as “prophet” and “disciple” - but also references to “pariah” (outcast), “Testament of Youth” (novel by Vera Brittain, 1933) and “Pied Piper” (legend of the Pied Piper of Hamelin).
I wrote this song after a car journey with a young musician/philosopher who believed his words would have lasting impact - a Karl Marx, Sun Yat Sen, Ho Chi Minh, Rousseau etc. - or a Jim Morrison or Kurt Cobain. He drove me crazy, but I listened - not wanting to be a negative, hardened sceptic.
In the song I cast doubt on this impact, although acknowledge that I was probably equally idealistic once - and maybe you will prove me wrong. As the composer Gustav Mahler whose music was only appreciated fully many decades after his death.
For me you are just like the rest of us. You’re not the Messiah (and as Monty Python in Life of Brian, “….you’re just a naughty boy!). But somehow I have to admire your conviction….when do we start to lose this?
There are two versions of the song: the first is a more modern mix, and the second is more like an analogue tape recording from the 1960s.
Links:
Modern mix - /track/3989020/not-the-messiah
Analogue mix - /track/3989025/not-the-messiah-analogue